Summertime (1955) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Jane struggles with the moral conflict but ultimately chooses to embrace the romance despite knowing Renato is married. Renato argues that relationships in Italy work differently and accuses her of immaturity for not accepting what happiness she can have. Jane decides to live in the moment rather than deny herself the experience, viewing it as a brief but meaningful chapter in her life.

Foreshadowing: Earlier in the film, Renato warns Jane not to waste a chance at happiness, setting up her eventual decision to pursue the relationship despite knowing the complications.

• Jane Hudson
• Renato
• married affair
• Venice romance
• moral conflict

After spending idyllic days in Burano, Jane realizes she cannot sustain a relationship built on infidelity and secrecy. She believes it's better to leave the romance before it turns bitter, wanting to preserve the memory of something beautiful rather than watch it deteriorate into unhappiness. She tells Renato not to come to the station, yet secretly hopes he will anyway.

Foreshadowing: The repeated theme of impermanence throughout the film, the gardenia sinking into the canal, the fireworks fading, foreshadows her decision to end things on her own terms.

• Jane leaves Venice
• Burano
• ending romance
• train station scene

The gardenia becomes a symbol of Jane and Renato's brief romance. Jane drops the first gardenia into the canal, and Renato's final gift to her at the train station is another gardenia, showing that their connection, while fleeting, has come full circle. The flower represents the beauty and fragility of their love, something precious that slips away despite efforts to hold onto it.

Foreshadowing: Jane chooses a simple gardenia over the more elaborate orchid Renato expects, signaling her preference for authenticity over grand romantic gestures.

• gardenia symbolism
• Venice romance
• flower meaning
• ending scene

Renato runs after the departing train because he cannot accept Jane leaving without a proper goodbye. He attempts to hand her a package through the train window, a final gift. When the train moves too fast, he opens the box himself and retrieves the gardenia inside, symbolizing his attempt to hold onto their connection until the very end.

Foreshadowing: This echoes earlier moments when Renato tries to retrieve the gardenia Jane dropped into the canal but fails, reinforcing the theme of love slipping away despite one's efforts.

• Renato chase
• train station
• farewell scene
• gardenia gift

Jane resists initially because she has spent years disappointed in love and fears another rejection. She's also wary of pursuing a romance with a stranger in a foreign country. Renato challenges her directly, warning that she shouldn't waste a chance at happiness, which gradually breaks down her defenses.

Foreshadowing: On her first evening in Venice, Jane feels overwhelmed by couples in the Piazza San Marco and is unsettled when an Italian man watches her, establishing her conflicted feelings about romance.

• Jane resistance
• Renato courtship
• Venice romance
• emotional walls

The red goblet serves as the initial connection between Jane and Renato. She purchases it from his antique shop, and he offers to find a matching one, creating an excuse for future meetings. When the McIlhennys return with similar goblets from Murano, Jane briefly suspects Renato of swindling her, but he explains that similar designs have been used for centuries, maintaining the authenticity of their encounter.

Foreshadowing: Renato's reassurance that the goblet represents enduring design mirrors how he later describes Italian relationships, as having different but lasting traditions.

• red glass goblet
• antique shop
• Renato
• Murano glass

Eddie Yaeger, a young American painter staying at the pensione, is having an affair with the widowed Signora Fiorini, who owns the guesthouse. Jane learns about this complicated situation from Phyl in a bar, which adds to the atmosphere of romantic entanglements and moral ambiguity in Venice. The affair parallels Jane's own relationship with Renato, highlighting the theme of relationships outside societal norms.

Foreshadowing: The Pensione Fiorini brings together various lonely travelers, creating fertile ground for romantic complications that unfold throughout the film.

• Eddie Yaeger
• Signora Fiorini
• affair
• pensione
• moral ambiguity

Jane returns to Renato's shop the next morning with Mauro, but Renato isn't there. While trying to film the storefront as a memento, she accidentally steps backward into the canal. The mishap is humiliating and reinforces her social clumsiness in Venice. She asks Mauro to take her back to the pensione, bruised but determined to continue her vacation.

Foreshadowing: This accident happens shortly after she purchased the goblet, showing her eagerness to return to the shop even without confirmation that Renato would be there.

• Jane canal fall
• filming accident
• Mauro
• comic mishap

The summary doesn't explicitly state why Renato is absent, but it appears to be a coincidence that frustrates Jane's hope for another encounter. This absence leads to her canal accident, which ironically brings Renato to the pensione that evening to confess his attraction to her, turning a humiliating moment into a turning point in their relationship.

Foreshadowing: Jane's earlier purchase of the goblet and Renato's hint that he might find a matching one had created anticipation for their next meeting.

• Renato shop
• Venice antique store
• Jane disappointment

Mauro is a local Venetian boy who first appears stealing a smile and a banana, establishing his mischievous nature. He becomes Jane's occasional guide and intermediary throughout her trip, taking her back to the pensione after her canal accident and later appearing at the train station to give her a parting gift. His presence represents Jane's immersion into local Venetian life.

Foreshadowing: Mauro's final appearance at the station, offering Jane a trinket for her journey, closes the circle of her Venetian adventure.

• Mauro
• local Venetian boy
• guide
• parting gift